Skin disorders affect millions of people annually in the United States alone. On a worldwide scale this figure is staggering. Such disorder range from the relatively minor inconvenience of dry skin to more serious life-threatening conditions.
One such condition is psoriasis, which alone affects approximately 8 million Americans. Psoriasis is a chronic proliferative skin disorder of unknown etiology. Symptoms include thickening of both dermal and epidermal layers, with cellular proliferation and inflammation. The symptoms or psoriasis range from relatively mild irritation to death. Currently treatment of psoriasis is generally topical, using emollients, keratolytics and corticosteroids. In severe cases, however, systemic corticosteroids and antimetabolites, such as methotrexate, are used. In view, however of the unknown etiology of the disease, rationale design of effective therapeutics for use in treatment regimes has been unavailing. Accordingly, there exists an unmet need for effective compositions for the treatment of psoriasis.
Another such disorder is eczema. Eczema, sometimes known as dermatitis, results from an inflammatory response to either endogenous or exogenous agents. The disorder is characterized by erythema, vesicles, scales and itching. More advanced symptoms include edema, serous discharge and crusting. In chronic eczema, the skin becomes thickened, leathery and hyperpigmented. Although medicaments exist for the treatment of eczema, none is completely satisfactory or universally accepted. Thus, there is an ongoing need for additional effective agents for treating this disease.
Further examples of skin disorders for which adequate treatment is unavailable or insufficient include acne, cold sores, dry skin, sunburn, cuts, insect bites, pruritic lesions and other inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions of the skin. Accordingly, there is a need for a safe and effective agent, suitable for topical delivery, that is useful in treating this wide variety of skin conditions.